Whale # 4 stomach content analysis

Colossal Squid

This specimen, 'Whale # 4" is actually 'Whale # 1' [Department of Conservation #] of the pod that stranded on KariKari Beach, West Coast, Auckland on 16 November 2003 (one of the 13). [sampled on 18 Nov 2003]

These beaks have only just been identified, and like 'Whale's 1-3', as far as I know (to the best of my efforts), every squid beak in the stomach was retained (this time the number of lower beaks exceeds that of the uppers). The identifications must be treated as provisional, although I only expect (if any changes are to occur) 1 or 2 changes (?Discoteuthis concerns me - I do not believe that the single beak is correctly identified).

If you like you can look at the squid composition of this whale, compare it to that of the previous lot, and try and make some sense out of the jigsaw (again based on what we know of the New Zealand and adjacent water mass squid faunas). I've not provided lower rostral lengths for the beaks, as I've yet to measure them.